The Various Occasions Related to Hadith al Thaqalayn

The various narrations of Hadith al-­Thaqalayn also indicate the occasion on which the Prophet (S) proclaimed it publicly. ‘Allamah ‘Abd al-Aziz Tabataba'i, who has studied the various narrations of Hadith al-Thaqalayn as recorded by various traditionists mentions four occasions on which the Prophet (S) proclaimed it publicly. First of these is the occasion when the Prophet (S) proclaimed it during his last hajj at ‘Arafat.

On this occasion, the Prophet (S) was accompanied by more than a hundred thousand Muslims. The second occasion relates to his proclamation at Ghadir Khumm, during the course of his return journey to Madinah. The third occasion relates to his proclamation in the Mosque of Madinah. The fourth one relates to his pronouncement of Hadith al-­Thaqalayn in his chamber during his last illness. All these occasions lie within a period of ninety days and pertain to the Prophet's last days.

There are, however, many narrations of the hadith - in fact, most of them - which do not contain any clue about the time and place of its pronouncement. In the following are given instances of the narrations of Hadith al-­Thaqalayn relating to each of these occasions, accompanied by the sources which record them. 1

....Jabir ibn ‘Abd Allah said: "I saw the Messenger of Allah - upon whom be God's peace and benedictions - in the course of his hajj pilgrimage on the day of ‘Arafah. The Prophet (S) was seated on his camel, al-­Qaswa', and was delivering a sermon. I heard him say: 'O people, I am leaving among you that which if you hold on to you shall never go astray: the Book of Allah and my kindred, my household."

Al-­Tirmidhi states that the same tradition has been narrated by Abu Dharr, Abu Sa’id, Zayd ibn Arqam and Hudhayfah ibn Usayd.

Al-­Nasa'i narrates from Muhammad ibn al-­Muthanna, he from Yahya ibn Hammad, from Abu 'Uwwanah, from Sulayman, from Habib ibn Abi Thabit, from Abu al-­Tufayl, from Zayd ibn Arqam, who said, "When the Messenger of Allah (S) returned from the last hajj and came down at Ghadir Khumm....

"Then he declared: 'I am about to answer the call (of death). Verily, I have left two precious things (thaqalayn) among you, one of which is greater than the other: the Book of God and my ‘Itrah, my Ahlul Bayt. So watch out how you treat them after me. For, indeed, they will never separate until they return to me by the side of the Pond.' Then he said, 'Verily, God is my master (mawlaya) and I am the wali of every believer.' Then he took ‘Ali's hand and declared, 'To whomever I am his wali, this one is also his wali. My God, befriend whoever befriends him and be hostile to whoever is hostile to him.'" Abu al-­Tufayl says: "I said to Zayd, 'Did you hear it from the Prophet(S)?' He replied, 'There was no one in the caravan who did not see it with his eyes and hear it with his ears,'"

Khasa'is ‘Ali is part of al-­Nasa'i's al-­Sunan al-­kubra as shown by the 3rd volume of the MS in the king's collection in Morocco, written in 759/1358 folios 81-117. See also in this regard the introduction of al-­Khasa'is (Kuwait: Maktabat al-Mu’alla, 1406), ed. by Ahmad Mirayn Balushi. The editor states that this tradition is sahih and its transmitters are thiqah.

7. Ishaq ibn Rahwayh, in his Sahih., as mentioned by Ibn Hajar in al-­Matalib al-Aliyah, iv, 65, no. 1873, where he states that its isnad is sahih, and also by al-Busayri in Ithaf al-­sadah (MS in Topcopi Library, vol. 3, F.55b) who, too, considers the isnad as sahih;

23. al-­Hakim, al-­Mustadrak ‘ala al-­Sahihayn, iii, 109, 110 where he expressly states, as mentioned above, that the tradition is sahih in accordance with the criteria of al-­Bukhari and Muslim; al-­Dhahabi has confirmed his judgment;

...It is narrated that he (i.e. the Prophet) - upon whom be peace - said in the last sermon that he delivered during his illness: "O people, I leave behind two precious things (thaqalayn) amongst you...: the Book of God - which is a rope between Him and you, whose one end is in His hand and whose other end is in your hands ­ so act according to its muhkamat and believe in its mutashabihat; consider as lawful that which it regards as lawful and consider as forbidden that which it regards as unlawful - and my ‘Itrah and my Ahlul Bayt, who are the second thaql. So don't outstrip them (fa la tasbiquhum), for then you shall perish."

Unfortunately in the printed versions of it fa la tasbiquhum has been altered as fa la tasbi’uhum (a meaningless expression). This tradition has also been narrated by:

1. Abu Hayyan in his tafsir, al-­Bahr al-­muhit, i, 12 (with identical wording, except that in a published version of it there is fa la tasubbuhum, i.e. so don't curse them, instead of fa la tasbiquhum);

The Messenger of Allah (S) said during his last illness: "Soon I am going to pass away and I have extended to you my plea of excuse. Lo, verily I leave behind amongst you two precious things: the Book of Allah, the Almighty and the Glorious, and my kindred (‘Itrah)." Then he took ‘Ali's hand and raised it, saying, "This ‘Ali is with the Qur'an and the Qur'an is with ‘Ali. The two will not separate until they return to me by the Pond. Then I will ask the two as to how they were treated after me."

2. Muhammad ibn Ja’far al-­Razzaz, from Umm Salamah (where she is explicit that the Prophet [S] made this pronouncement in his chamber which was filled by the Companions), as cited in Wasilat al-­ma'al;